Tag: snow
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Maria Theofanopoulou captured this beautiful photo of the snow-dusted Acropolis in Athens on the morning of Tuesday January 10. She shot the image from a rooftop vantage point at the Electra Metropolis Athens hotel.

Surreal snow scenes: Since the Christmas holiday period, I have been fascinated viewing hundreds of images of stunning winter scenery that people throughout Greece have been sharing on social media. Although the news feed for the MyGreeceTravelBlog Facebook page is usually filled with breathtaking photos of beautiful beaches, stunning seasides, charming villages and historic monuments, I have been surprised to see that familiar places look almost completely different under dark, stormy skies and blankets of crisp white snow.

At times the pictures of snow-covered beaches, ruins and villages in Greece have seemed surreal to me, especially since there is almost no snow anywhere near my home in downtown Toronto. Scenes of streets knee-deep in fluffy soft snow are something I would expect from most places in Canada this time of year, but not on Greek islands like Skiathos, Skopelos or Evia!

I find the images particularly impressive because they show how spectacular Greece looks even in extremely severe weather during a season few tourists get to see and experience.

If, like me, you have only visited Greece during spring, summer or fall, you probably will be pleasantly surprised to see just how striking and amazing various regions looked during the cold snap that has gripped much of the nation since Christmas.

Below are photos of wintry scenes in several popular Greece destinations, followed on page 2 of this post by dozens of photos from Athens, Rhodes, Chios, Evia, Skiathos, Skopelos, Skyros, Sparta, Mystras, Lakonia, Corinth and Ioannina. Part 2 includes photos from Crete, Nafplio, Epidaurus, Thessaloniki, some of the Cyclades and Ionian islands, plus various locations in the Peloponnese and mainland Greece. With links to scores of additional snow pictures and videos, this two-part feature is one of the most comprehensive collections of Greece winter storm photos you’ll find in one spot.

(Please note that I have done my best to credit the original photographers for each image. However, it wasn’t always possible to trace back all sources. if you notice an incorrect attribution for any of the pictures, please let me know and I’ll be happy to correct the photo credits.)

So bundle up and enjoy a photo tour of winter wonderlands in Greece!

Evia island (also spelled Evvoia and Euboea) was one of the places hardest-hit by snowfalls, with some regions receiving nearly 2 meters of white stuff. Constantinos Mg photographed this snow-filled street in Kymi.

It looks like a scene from the Arctic, but this actually is Mandraki beach on Skiathos, photographed by Nikos Mavropoulos

Parga looks pretty all dressed in white. This image of the popular seaside resort in northwestern Greece was shared on the Meteo Gr Facebook page

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This photo of snow on Skopelos island has been widely shared on social media, including the Meteo Gr page on Facebook

The Skiathos Facebook page posted this photo of a little girl poised to toss a snowball on one of the island’s golden sand beaches, now covered in a blanket of white after a snowfall on Saturday January 23

Snow day: Barely five days after light flurries dusted it with snow, Skiathos was struck by an even stronger storm that turned the island’s red-tiled rooftops white and left some areas without power for several hours on January 23.

Island residents quickly took to social media to share photos and videos of their suddenly white winter wonderland, and my Facebook page news feed filled with dozens of images of snow-laden trees, beaches, roads and buildings.

I have collected a few of the pictures that appeared on Facebook to show the aftermath of the exceptional winter storm — one of several that have struck different regions of Greecem, including islands, since the beginning of 2016.

Click on the link under the next two pictures to turn to page 2 of this post and view more Skiathos snow photos.

You can view additional images, along with several videos, on the Skiathos Facebook page and on the Skiathos Life community page on Facebook.

If you would prefer to see beautiful summer scenes from the island instead, check out the three videos in my Set your sights on Skiathos! post from January 23.

Stormclouds linger above snow-dusted rooftops in this photo shared by the Skiathos Life Facebook page

Also from the Skiathos Life Facebook page, this photo shows a crew working to restore power. Heavy snow and falling trees caused power cuts to parts of the island, including the area around Profitis Ilias.

Skiers, snowboarders and other snow sports enthusiasts can reach Kalavitra Ski Center (seen here in a photo from the resort’s Facebook page) …

… on day trips offered from Athens several times a week on the “Snow Bus,” seen here in a screenshot from the website for the special transport service operated by Amphitrion Holidays.

City to mountain service: Want to enjoy some snow sports activities in the great Greek outdoors during your trip to Athens this winter? Consider spending a day on the slopes at Kalavrita Ski Center, which you can reach four days a week on a dedicated bus that leaves Athens early in the morning and returns to the city after the lifts close.

Operated by Amphitrion Holidays, the Snow Bus provides return service on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from more than a dozen passenger pick-up points in the northern and southern suburbs of Athens. Departures begin as early as 4:40 a.m., with the bus reaching Kalavrita Ski Center by 8:30 a.m. The Snow Bus leaves the resort around 4:30 in the afternoon (after the ski lifts have closed) to make the return trip to Athens.

Round-trip bus fares from Athens cost only €15. A loyalty card is available for people planning multiple visits to the resort, and it provides discounts up to 20% on transport, ski lift tickets, equipment rentals and lessons. Special prices for children and groups are available. See the Snow Bus website for full pricing information plus departure times and locations and an online booking form. (Note: the website’s text content is in Greek, but you can read it by using Google Translate or other programs.)

Please click here, or on the link below the photo and video that follow, to continue reading and see more pictures of Kalavrita Ski Center on page 2 of this post.

Many people picture golden sand beaches and turquoise seas when they think of Greece, but in winter the country’s snow-capped mountains are equally breathtaking. This image from the Kalavrita Ski Center Facebook page shows some of the beautiful alpine scenery at Mount Helmos.

Snow-covered mountains on Naxos are seen from Marpissa village on nearby Paros island today, in this photo posted on Facebook by ΜΑΝΩΛΗΣ ΡΟΥΣΣΟΣ. The picture has been shared in numerous New Year’s greetings on social media by people on both islands, many of whom describe it as a view of the “Naxian Alps.” Naxos, Paros and several other Greek islands experienced snowflurries as storms swept across Greece on New Year’s Eve (see my post Snowfalls & cold temps bring Greece’s 2015 to a turbulent close for photos of winter scenes in Greece yesterday.)

Here’s another view of the snowy Naxos mountains, this time seen in a telephoto image shot from Amorgos island. It’s one of several photos that the Amorgos News website published of the Naxos mountains dressed in white. Click here to see the other images.

Snow blankets the ground beside a chapel in Lefkes village on Paros following light flurries on December 31 2015. Μαρία Ραγκούση shared this image on the Lefkes Paros public group page on Facebook.

Petros Anamateros shared on Facebook this image he captured showing New Year’s Eve snowflurries at Halki village on Naxos

From green to white: Every day this month, I’ve been feeling green with envy seeing social media posts showing sunny skies and gorgeous summer-like scenery in Greece. Only three days ago, in fact, I was jealously admiring beach and seashore photos from the Athens Riviera that a friend had taken during balmy 18 degree Celsius temperatures.

But when I logged onto my blog’s Facebook newsfeed first thing this morning, I was stunned to see pictures and read reports about light snow falling at various places on the Greek mainland, in Athens, and on such islands as Amorgos, Crete, Mykonos, Naxos, Paros, Santorini and Skiathos.

On Rhodes and other islands in the Dodecanese, people had posted comments about chilly temperatures and strong, cold winds. The We Love Rhodes page, for instance, reported that temperatures of only 3 degrees and winds reaching level 5 on the Beaufort scale had brought the “first day of winter for Rhodes at the last day of 2015.”

And in an article entitled White New Year’s Eve in Greece, the news website Protothema described snowfalls in northern and central Greece and Attica, and reported on weather-related disruptions to ferry service to the Saronic Gulf islands and other places. (Click on the article title link to see photos and videos that Protothema included with its story.)

Snow isn’t unusual in Greece

Snowflurries aren’t unheard-of either on the mainland, in Athens, or on many of the Greek islands. Severe winter weather conditions including snow and sleet can and do strike virtually all parts of the country from time to time.

But it is perhaps fitting that what has been an extremely turbulent year for Greece seems to be ending just the way it began — with dark, brooding stormclouds bringing cold temperatures and light snow to many parts of the nation.

As I reported in my posts Wild winter weather wallops Greece and Snow scenes from the Cyclades, Greece got this year off to a stormy start with severe winter weather that started just before New Year’s Eve 2014 and carried into early January. There were More weather woes during the second week of February. After that, the country experienced a roller coaster ride of ups and downs, with national elections, financial bailout negotiations, the ongoing refugee/migrant crisis and record tourist visits, to name just a few of the many events that put Greece in the international media spotlight throughout the year.

Now, as 2015 comes to a stormy close, I’m anxious to see if the new year will bring better times. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that 2016 will indeed be a Happy New Year for Greece.

Please click here or on the link at the bottom of this post to see more New Year’s Eve snow scenes from Greece on page 2 of this report.